LITTLE ROCK (AP) — The head of Arkansas’ Department of Community Correction abruptly retired Monday amid criticism over the department’s handling of a case involving a Little Rock man accused in a May killing who was allowed to remain on parole despite multiple felony charges since his 2008 prison release.

David Eberhard announced that he was retiring as the department’s director effective immediately. Hours after his announcement, the state Board of Corrections voted to give the job to a deputy director in the state’s prison system, then hours after that the board said it intended only to give her the job on an interim basis.

A statement from the department did not give a reason for Eberhard’s departure, and said he told the chairman of the state Board of Corrections of his intent to retire June 21.

Eberhard, who has served as director since 2010, didn’t immediately respond to a call to his office Monday seeking comment.

Eberhard and state parole officials have faced criticism since the May 22 arrest of Darrell Dennis, who is accused of fatally shooting a Fayetteville man, Forrest Abrams, in Little Rock on May 10. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported last month that Dennis had been arrested 14 times since being released on parole following an aggravated robbery conviction and that he skipped parole revocation hearings that could have ended with his return to custody.

Gov. Mike Beebe has called for a review of the state’s parole system, and the Board of Correction last month announced it was making several changes in how it would handle cases involving convicts who are on parole.

Benny Magness, the Board of Corrections chairman, said he didn’t ask Eberhard to step down and said he didn’t know if the controversy over the parolee was a factor.

Magness said Eberhard had talked with him before about retirement.

“He just decided this was his time,” Magness told reporters. “I don’t know that it had as much to do with the controversy as it did the time, he had the time to go.”

The board voted late Monday afternoon to hire Sheila Sharp, a deputy director of the Arkansas Department of Correction, to replace Eberhard starting July 8. Sharp has worked for the Department of Correction for the past 15 years and was a finalist for DCC director when Eberhard was hired by the board. The resolution naming her to the post included no conditions, but Correction Department spokeswoman Shea Wilson said the appointment was intended to be temporary.

The Board of Correction planned to meet by telephone in the coming days to vote on a corrected resolution, Wilson said.

“The word interim was inadvertently omitted,” Wilson wrote in an email. “The board discussed it as an interim position in executive session and with Ms Sharp, but when the motion was made the word interim was omitted from the language. That was not the board’s intention.”

Meanwhile, Sharp said she planned to review Dennis’ case to see what changes needed to be made to the department.

“We have so many good people in corrections and community corrections who don’t necessarily do this job for the pay. It’s not for everybody,” Sharp told reporters. “It’s a hard job because you’re making decisions that affect people’s lives, and I don’t think the public appreciates that to that degree. I want to give them the recognition and the tools they need to do their job.”

Magness said Sharp would be paid the same amount as Eberhard, whose annual salary was $114,870.

Beebe on Monday said he did not ask for Eberhard to step down and said he didn’t know if the decision was related to the investigation into Dennis’ parole. Beebe said he expected more changes at the department.

“Obviously there was a flaw in the way the Dennis case was handled and to some extent a systemic flaw that has already been addressed by the Board of Corrections with changes in their policy both in Act 3 as well with a multiplicity of absconding situations,” Beebe said, referring to a provision in state law that requires a mental evaluation on a criminal suspect to determine if he is fit to stand trial.

The Democrat-Gazette reported Sunday that a parole officer recommended a parole revocation hearing for Dennis eight days before Abrams was killed. Dennis’ parole was not revoked until June 5, two weeks after his arrest in the shooting.

Beebe declined to say whether he thought Eberhard’s decision to retire was correct.

The changes announced by the Board of Corrections include jailing any parolee who is charged with a felony or a violent or sex-related misdemeanor and jailing parolees who fail to report two or more times. The panel expanded on those policies Monday, voting to prevent the release of any parolee who is awaiting a mental evaluation hearing under Act 3.

Magness said corrections officials were also reviewing other parolees’ cases.

“We’re going to go back and actually try to start auditing every case file to make sure as humanly possible there’s not another case that has some appearance of this,” he said.